A Business at a Glance
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WATERS CORP /DE/
WAT
$22.4B
Mkt Cap
$374.68
-2.02%
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a current P/E ratio of 34.8, compared to its historical median P/E of 29.6. The stock is currently considered Expensive based on its historical valuation range.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a 5-year average return on invested capital (ROIC) of 32.9%. This indicates strong capital allocation and a potential competitive advantage.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a market capitalization of $30.8T. It is classified as a mega-cap stock.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) does not currently pay a regular dividend. However, the company returns capital to shareholders through share buybacks, with a buyback yield of 0.00%.
Based on historical P/E analysis, WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) appears expensive. The current P/E of 34.8 is 18% above its historical median of 29.6. The estimated fair value CAGR (P/E method) is 6.7%.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) operates in the Laboratory Analytical Instruments industry, within the Technology sector.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) reported annual revenue of $3.2 billion in its most recent fiscal year, based on SEC EDGAR filings.
Waters Corporation is a global leader in analytical instruments and software serving life sciences, materials science, and food safety markets for over 65 years. The company designs, manufactures, and sells high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), and mass spectrometry (MS) systems, along with complementary consumables such as chromatography columns and precision chemistry products, generating recurring revenue through column replacements and post-warranty service plans. Following the February 2026 acquisition of Becton Dickinson's Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions businesses for $16.8 billion, Waters now operates four segments: Waters Analytical Sciences, Waters Biosciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics, and Waters Materials Sciences, significantly expanding its portfolio to include flow cytometry instruments, diagnostic specimen collection systems, infectious disease detection platforms, and immunology research solutions. The company serves pharmaceutical, clinical, biochemical, industrial, environmental, and academic customers globally, with a business model combining capital-intensive instrument sales with high-margin recurring revenue from consumables and services; its competitive moat derives from proprietary chromatography and mass spectrometry technology, integrated software platforms, manufacturing control over consumables, and established customer relationships across regulated quality assurance and research laboratories. The acquisition transforms Waters into a diversified life sciences and diagnostics platform with enhanced scale and geographic reach, particularly strengthening its presence in high-volume testing applications and clinical diagnostics markets.
【Integration and synergy execution】 Management is executing a multi-phase integration strategy focused on immediate operational improvements and revenue synergies from cross-selling, with cost synergies of $55 million and revenue synergies of $50 million targeted for 2026. The company expects to drive margin expansion of at least 100 basis points annually through the end of the decade, supported by instrument replacement cycles, service plan attachment growth, and e-commerce adoption across the combined platform. Management anticipates sustained high single-digit organic growth in legacy Waters businesses driven by five idiosyncratic growth drivers including GLP-1 testing, PFAS analysis, India generics, bioseparations, and bioanalytical characterization, with new product launches in flow cytometry, BACTEC microbiology systems, and rapid stability testing expected to unlock additional growth vectors. The company is implementing a phased value creation roadmap progressing from near-term operational improvements and early revenue synergies in phase one, through broader commercial execution and cross-selling in phase two, to strategic product launches and platform leverage in phase three, positioning Waters for a mid-teens adjusted EPS growth algorithm over the medium term.
| Metric | Target | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Organic constant currency revenue growth | 6.5%-8% | Full year 2026 |
| Total reported revenue | $6.405 billion-$6.455 billion | Full year 2026 |
| Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions revenue | approximately $3.035 billion | Full year 2026 |
| Adjusted EPS | $14.40-$14.60 per share | Full year 2026 |
| Adjusted EBIT margin | 28.2% | Full year 2026 |
| Cost synergies | $55 million | Full year 2026 |
| Revenue synergies | $50 million | Full year 2026 |
Organic constant currency revenue growth (Full year 2026): “we are raising our full year 2026 organic constant currency revenue guidance to 6.5%-8%”
Total reported revenue (Full year 2026): “Together, total 2026 reported revenue is expected to be approximately $6.405 billion-$6.455 billion based on latest FX rates.”
Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions revenue (Full year 2026): “we now expect Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions to generate approximately $3.035 billion of reported revenue in 2026”
“we are raising our full year adjusted EPS guidance by $0.10 to $14.40 per share to $14.60 per share”
Generated solely from the company's own reports listed below — not from third-party data. Hallucination risk is low. · Sources: 10-K, Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call, Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call, Q2 FY2025 Earnings Call, Q1 FY2025 Earnings Call
| Metric | TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 3.8B | 3.2B | 3.0B | 3.0B | 3.0B | 2.8B |
| Net Income | 449M | 643M | 638M | 642M | 708M | 693M |
| EPS | $8.75 | $10.76 | $10.71 | $10.84 | $11.73 | $11.17 |
| Free Cash Flow | 264M | 540M | 620M | 442M | 436M | 586M |
| ROIC | 2.6% | 21.9% | 24.2% | 22.0% | 45.6% | 50.9% |
| Gross Margin | - | 59.3% | 59.4% | 59.6% | 58.0% | 58.5% |
| Debt/Equity | 0.35 | 0.63 | 0.93 | 2.17 | 3.52 | 4.69 |
| Dividends/Share | $0.00 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Operating Income | 604M | 803M | 826M | 818M | 873M | 822M |
| Operating Margin | 16.0% | 25.4% | 27.9% | 27.7% | 29.4% | 29.5% |
| ROE | 2.9% | 29.3% | 34.9% | 55.8% | 162.3% | 231.1% |
| Shares Outstanding | 82,139M | 60M | 60M | 59M | 60M | 62M |
| Metric | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income Statement | |||||||||||||
| Revenue | 2.0B | 2.0B | 2.2B | 2.3B | 2.4B | 2.4B | 2.4B | 2.8B | 3.0B | 3.0B | 3.0B | 3.2B | 3.8B |
| Gross Margin | 58.5% | 58.7% | 58.9% | 59.0% | 59.0% | 58.0% | 57.4% | 58.5% | 58.0% | 59.6% | 59.4% | 59.3% | N/A |
| R&D | 108M | 119M | 125M | 133M | 143M | 143M | 141M | 168M | 176M | 175M | 183M | 196M | 245M |
| SG&A | 513M | 496M | 512M | 544M | 537M | 535M | 554M | 627M | 658M | 736M | 690M | 830M | 1.0B |
| EBIT | 518M | 567M | 625M | 662M | 740M | 708M | 645M | 822M | 873M | 818M | 826M | 803M | 604M |
| Op. Margin | 26.0% | 27.8% | 28.8% | 28.7% | 30.6% | 29.4% | 27.3% | 29.5% | 29.4% | 27.7% | 27.9% | 25.4% | 16.0% |
| Net Income | 432M | 469M | 522M | 20M | 594M | 592M | 522M | 693M | 708M | 642M | 638M | 643M | 449M |
| Net Margin | 21.7% | 23.0% | 24.1% | 0.9% | 24.5% | 24.6% | 22.1% | 24.9% | 23.8% | 21.7% | 21.6% | 20.3% | 11.9% |
| Non-Recurring | 6.0M | 6.4M | 11M | 2.0M | 8.0M | 0 | 6.9M | 0 | 0 | 37M | 14M | 6.0M | 6.0M |
| Returns on Capital | |||||||||||||
| ROIC | 35.2% | 37.3% | 41.1% | 36.9% | 65.7% | 56.2% | 44.5% | 50.9% | 45.6% | 22.0% | 24.2% | 21.9% | 2.6% |
| ROE | 23.6% | 23.7% | 23.9% | 0.9% | 37.9% | 87.7% | 224.7% | 231.1% | 162.3% | 55.8% | 34.9% | 29.3% | 2.9% |
| ROA | 11.6% | 11.5% | 11.7% | 0.4% | 15.9% | 18.8% | 19.3% | 23.3% | 22.2% | 13.9% | 14.0% | 13.3% | 1.8% |
| Cash Flow | |||||||||||||
| Op. Cash Flow | 512M | 573M | 643M | 698M | 604M | 643M | 791M | 747M | 612M | 603M | 762M | 653M | 390M |
| Free Cash Flow | 421M | 473M | 548M | 612M | 508M | 479M | 618M | 586M | 436M | 442M | 620M | 540M | 264M |
| Owner Earnings | 384M | 495M | 550M | 597M | 509M | 551M | 628M | 586M | 439M | 481M | 630M | 392M | -526M |
| CapEx | 91M | 100M | 95M | 85M | 96M | 164M | 172M | 161M | 176M | 161M | 142M | 113M | 126M |
| Maint. CapEx | 94M | 45M | 52M | 61M | 58M | 54M | 126M | 132M | 130M | 85M | 87M | 206M | 855M |
| Growth CapEx | 0 | 55M | 43M | 24M | 38M | 110M | 47M | 30M | 46M | 76M | 55M | 0 | 0 |
| D&A | 94M | 45M | 52M | 61M | 58M | 54M | 126M | 132M | 130M | 85M | 87M | 206M | 855M |
| CapEx/OCF | 17.8% | 17.8% | 14.8% | 12.3% | 15.9% | 25.5% | 21.8% | 21.6% | 28.8% | 26.6% | 18.7% | 17.3% | 32.3% |
| Capital Allocation | |||||||||||||
| Dividends Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dividend Yield | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Share Buybacks | 337M | 335M | 326M | 333M | 1.3B | 2.5B | 196M | 649M | 626M | 70M | 14M | 15M | 13M |
| Buyback Yield | 3.5% | 3.0% | 3.0% | 2.1% | 9.2% | 15.5% | 1.3% | 2.8% | 3.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Stock-Based Comp | 33M | 33M | 41M | 39M | 38M | 39M | 37M | 30M | 43M | 37M | 45M | 54M | 61M |
| Debt Repayment | 240M | 120M | 325M | 1.3B | 850M | 390M | 640M | 350M | 145M | 670M | 900M | 290M | 290M |
| Balance Sheet | |||||||||||||
| Net Debt | -592M | -731M | -985M | -1.4B | -587M | 1.4B | 1.1B | 1.2B | 1.3B | 2.1B | 1.1B | 425M | 4.9B |
| Cash & Equiv. | 422M | 488M | 506M | 642M | 796M | 336M | 437M | 501M | 481M | 395M | 325M | 588M | 462M |
| Long-Term Debt | 1.2B | 1.5B | 1.7B | 1.9B | 1.1B | 1.6B | 1.2B | 1.5B | 1.5B | 2.3B | 1.6B | 947M | 4.9B |
| Debt/Equity | 0.77 | 0.81 | 0.79 | 0.89 | 0.73 | -8.21 | 6.73 | 4.69 | 3.52 | 2.17 | 0.93 | 0.63 | 0.35 |
| Interest Coverage | 15.1 | 15.7 | 13.9 | 11.7 | 15.2 | 14.6 | 13.2 | 18.3 | 17.9 | 8.3 | 9.2 | 11.5 | 5.8 |
| Equity | 1.9B | 2.1B | 2.3B | 2.2B | 1.6B | -216M | 232M | 368M | 504M | 1.2B | 1.8B | 2.6B | 15.3B |
| Total Assets | 3.9B | 4.3B | 4.7B | 5.3B | 3.7B | 2.6B | 2.8B | 3.1B | 3.3B | 4.6B | 4.6B | 5.1B | 24.5B |
| Total Liabilities | 2.0B | 2.2B | 2.4B | 3.1B | 2.2B | 2.8B | 2.6B | 2.7B | 2.8B | 3.5B | 2.7B | 2.5B | 9.2B |
| Intangibles | 230M | 218M | 207M | 228M | 247M | 240M | 259M | 242M | 227M | 629M | 568M | 558M | 8.8B |
| Retained Earnings | 4.4B | 4.9B | 5.4B | 5.4B | 6.0B | 6.6B | 7.1B | 7.8B | 8.5B | 9.2B | 9.8B | 10.4B | 10.4B |
| Working Capital | 2.2B | 2.6B | 3.1B | 3.7B | 2.2B | 721M | 596M | 948M | 978M | 963M | 879M | 908M | 1.8B |
| Current Assets | 2.8B | 3.2B | 3.6B | 4.3B | 2.7B | 1.3B | 1.4B | 1.6B | 1.8B | 1.8B | 1.7B | 2.1B | 4.1B |
| Current Liabilities | 580M | 564M | 520M | 606M | 449M | 591M | 805M | 681M | 786M | 790M | 790M | 1.2B | 2.3B |
| Per Share Data | |||||||||||||
| EPS | 5.07 | 5.65 | 6.41 | 0.25 | 7.65 | 8.69 | 8.36 | 11.17 | 11.73 | 10.84 | 10.71 | 10.76 | 8.75 |
| Owner EPS | 4.52 | 5.96 | 6.76 | 7.35 | 6.56 | 8.08 | 10.07 | 9.44 | 7.28 | 8.12 | 10.59 | 6.57 | -0.01 |
| Book Value | 22.26 | 24.80 | 28.29 | 27.49 | 20.19 | -3.17 | 3.72 | 5.93 | 8.36 | 19.42 | 30.70 | 42.88 | 0.19 |
| Cash Flow/Share | 6.01 | 6.91 | 7.90 | 8.59 | 7.79 | 9.44 | 12.67 | 12.05 | 10.14 | 10.17 | 12.80 | 10.93 | 0.02 |
| Dividends/Share | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0.00 |
| Shares Out. | 85.1M | 83.0M | 81.4M | 81.2M | 77.6M | 68.1M | 62.4M | 62.0M | 60.3M | 59.2M | 59.6M | 59.7M | 82.1B |
| Valuation | |||||||||||||
| P/E Ratio | 22.6 | 23.7 | 21.0 | 779.2 | 24.2 | 26.9 | 29.6 | 32.9 | 29.0 | 30.7 | 35.0 | 35.9 | 42.8 |
| P/FCF | 23.1 | 23.5 | 20.0 | 25.9 | 28.2 | 33.2 | 24.9 | 38.9 | 47.2 | 44.6 | 36.0 | 42.7 | N/A |
| EV/EBIT | 18.1 | 18.6 | 16.2 | 21.9 | 18.6 | 24.5 | 25.5 | 28.9 | 24.8 | 26.6 | 28.2 | 29.6 | N/A |
| Price/Book | 5.1 | 5.4 | 4.8 | 7.1 | 9.2 | N/A | 66.4 | 62.0 | 40.7 | 17.1 | 12.2 | 9.0 | N/A |
| Price/Sales | 14.1 | 15.9 | 16.1 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 6.5 | 5.8 | 6.7 | 6.6 | N/A |
| FCF Yield | 4.3% | 4.3% | 5.0% | 3.9% | 3.5% | 3.0% | 4.0% | 2.6% | 2.1% | 2.2% | 2.8% | 2.3% | 0.0% |
| Market Cap | 9.7B | 11.1B | 11.0B | 15.8B | 14.3B | 15.9B | 15.4B | 22.8B | 20.6B | 19.7B | 22.3B | 23.1B | 30.8T |
| Avg. Price | 106.40 | 125.81 | 139.52 | 173.93 | 196.78 | 220.32 | 208.39 | 331.71 | 320.18 | 288.96 | 334.62 | 349.40 | 374.68 |
| Year-End Price | 114.35 | 134.00 | 134.66 | 194.81 | 184.76 | 233.76 | 247.04 | 367.53 | 340.71 | 332.77 | 374.60 | 386.06 | 374.68 |
WATERS CORP /DE/ passes 6 of 9 quality checks, suggesting mixed fundamentals.
WATERS CORP /DE/ trades at 34.8x trailing earnings, compared to its 15-year median P/E of 29.6x, suggesting it is currently Expensive relative to its historical range. On a free-cash-flow basis, the stock trades at 68.1x vs a median of 34.6x. The company's 5-year average ROIC is 32.9% with a gross margin of 59.0%. At current prices, the estimated annualized return to fair value is +2.0%.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a net profit margin of 20.3%. This is a strong margin indicating high profitability.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) generated $540 million in free cash flow in its most recent fiscal year. Positive free cash flow supports dividends, buybacks, and debt reduction.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. This indicates moderate leverage.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) reported earnings per share (EPS) of $10.76 in its most recent fiscal year.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a return on equity (ROE) of 29.3%. This indicates the company generates strong returns for shareholders.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a 5-year average gross margin of 59.0%. This high margin suggests strong pricing power and a potential competitive moat.
The Ledger Terminal provides 19 years of financial data for WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT), sourced directly from SEC EDGAR filings. This includes income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and key financial ratios.
WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has a book value per share of $42.88, based on its most recent annual SEC filing.
Based on recent SEC filings and earnings disclosures, Management is executing a multi-phase integration strategy focused on immediate operational improvements and revenue synergies from cross-selling, with cost synergies of $55 million and revenue synergies of $50 million targeted for 2026. The company expects to drive margin expansion of at least 100 basis points annually through the end of the decade, supported by instrument replacement cycles, service plan attachment growth, and e-commerce adoption across the combined platform. Management anticipates sustained high single-digit organic growth in legacy Waters businesses driven by five idiosyncratic growth drivers including GLP-1 testing, PFAS analysis, India generics, bioseparations, and bioanalytical characterization, with new product launches in flow cytometry, BACTEC microbiology systems, and rapid stability testing expected to unlock additional growth vectors. The company is implementing a phased value creation roadmap progressing from near-term operational improvements and early revenue synergies in phase one, through broader commercial execution and cross-selling in phase two, to strategic product launches and platform leverage in phase three, positioning Waters for a mid-teens adjusted EPS growth algorithm over the medium term.
Based on recent SEC filings and earnings calls, WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT) has provided the following forward guidance: Organic constant currency revenue growth: 6.5%-8% (Full year 2026); Total reported revenue: $6.405 billion-$6.455 billion (Full year 2026); Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions revenue: approximately $3.035 billion (Full year 2026); Adjusted EPS: $14.40-$14.60 per share (Full year 2026); Adjusted EBIT margin: 28.2% (Full year 2026), plus 2 additional metrics.
Adjusted EBIT margin (Full year 2026): “we now expect our full year adjusted EBIT margin to be 28.2% in 2026”
Cost synergies (Full year 2026): “we remain firmly on track to deliver our $55 million target for 2026”
Revenue synergies (Full year 2026): “we remain well on track to deliver $50 million of expected revenue synergies this year”
No recent press releases.